Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is coming to the cinemas very soon, but not for everyone. Due to the movie's inclusion of a 12-second scene referencing LGBTQ+ relationships, Doctor Strange 2 is banned in both Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
Since news dropped of the multiverse movie's ban, Disney has responded to the situation, refusing to edit the scene out for those audiences. Despite this, fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in those regions have to decided to direct their infuriation towards innocent America Chavez actress Xochitl Gomez.
Xochitl Gomez receives death threats for Doctor Strange 2
In Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, 15-year-old actress Xochitl Gomez plays America Chavez. Just like in the comics, Chavez is a Latin-American lesbian superhero who has the ability to travel through multiverses.
Chavez’ inclusion has already drawn the ire of a bigoted group of MCU watchers due to her lesbian background. However, with the movie’s recent ban, MCU diehards in Saudi Arabia and Egypt have taken to blaming the character’s child actress.
Via The Direct, Gomez’ Instagram account was flooded with harassment, insulting and even threatening the Doctor Strange 2 actress. Some hateful comments were as simple as “I hate you” or short swears such as “f**k you”. However, some were far more detailed.
One commenter blamed Gomez for the ban, claiming she specifically is the reason behind the ban. Another told the teen to: “Get out of the Marvel universe! You destroyed Marvel so many countries refused!" One particularly religious commenter said: “May God deprive you of happiness in your life and your personality."
Gomez’ Instagram wasn't the worst place for harassment. The actress’ Tiktok account was also flooded with particularly vile comments, so much so that Gomez’ account was temporarily closed. After a day, the account was reopened with help from Gomez’ media team to clear up the filthy comments.
Read More: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse will feature over 230 characters across 6 universes
Actor abuse happens too often
Xochitl Gomez’ treatment by Marvel fans is nothing short of abhorrent, and they're not the only actress to suffer. For example, Star Wars fans over the past two decades have been attributed to numerous incidents of actor abuse, including that of preteen children.
When the Star Wars prequels released in 1999, fans of the franchise harassed both young Anakin Skywalker actor Jake Lloyd and Jar-Jar Binks actor Ahmed Best. This has only been exacerbated with the rise of social media with Star Wars fans driving both Daisy Ridley and Kelly Marie Tran from online platforms. In fact, Ridley just recently returned to Instagram after quitting in 2016 only to me immediately hit with a wave of hate.
The abuse that “fans” dish out to actors is completely unacceptable. Playing a character you didn't like is not the actor’s fault; that character was always going to be played by someone. If you don't like something, keep it to yourself, or review bomb Rotten Tomatoes like all the other losers.
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